Curiosity Within the Dictionary
by Fierce Kitten
Summary: Lina likes new words. She's also very curious. When Lina finds a word that starts with K and ends with S I'll let you guess what it is. ; , she wants to know what it is. And who better to help her than our beloved Doon Harrow? Romance, D/L. One-Shot


Lina was reading the dictionary. Most people would call this 'odd' but Lina was fascinated by words – new words.

"Kings evil," Lina read out loud, "the former belief that it could be healed by a king's touch."

"Shut up. I'm reading a _real_ book!" Torren snapped. Lina paid him no mind.

"Kinsfolk," Lina read, "Relatives."

"Why don't they just say 'relatives'?" Torren asked.

"Kirman," Lina continued to read, "A Persian carpet characterized by elaborate fluid designs and soft colors. …What's 'Persian'?"

"I don't know! You're the one with the dictionary!"

"Kismet," Lina continued; she wasn't going to look up 'Persian' because she wasn't at the 'p's yet, "fate."

"Lina… it is your _kismet_ to _shut up_."

"Kiss, to touch lips…." Lina stopped, "Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know!" Torren shouted, getting up, "It sounds _stupid_!"

"There's a word for it, Torren!" Lina said, chasing after him, "That means its special, right?"

"No," Torren told her, "_ABC_ is in the dictionary."

"But if it didn't have some significance, they wouldn't have a word for it! They'd just say 'touch lips'!"

"Or they'd say 'kitch'!"

"Kiss."

"Whatever. Can I read my book in peace?"

But Lina Mayfleet did not give in that easy.

"You want to kiss?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why do you _want_ to?"

"I'm curious!"

But Torren wasn't curious. He dismissed the idea and disappeared with his book, leaving Lina to obsess over the strange new word. Kiss. Kiss. What was the point of a 'kiss'? Why would people want to touch lips? Did it do something? Did it mean something?

What did it _feel_ like?

It was still on her mind when Doon invited her over to his house.

"See, Lina?" he asked her, showing her his latest invention – water powered electricity, "This wheel turns the crank _for_ you, spinning the magnet."

"How nice."

"You won't get tiered, and it could keep power going nonstop if you put it in a flowing river, or something. I think I've figured out how the generator in Ember worked. You remember the river in the Pipeworks-"

"Yeah."

"We could make a generator here in Sparks! Think of the possibilities…."

"Pretty…."

Doon stopped talking. He stared at Lina.

"What's up with you? It's like you're in a daze…."

Lina sighed, "I found this weird word in the dictionary."

"Oh?" Doon asked, sitting down next to her on his bed.

"Yeah… 'kiss'…."

"Kiss?" Doon asked, "What's that?"

"It means 'to touch lips'. Why would people want to do that?"

"I don't know," Doon said, shrugging, "It sounds stupid."

"That's what _Torren_ said!" Lina complained, "I thought _you_ would have been curious! I want to know what it feels like! Why people would want to touch lips!"

Doon thought for a moment.

I _guess_ I'm a little interested."

"So…" Lina said, "Do you want to try it?"

Doon laughed, "I'm not so sure I'd go _that_ far…."

"Oh, come on, Doon!"

"It sounds stupid! What happens if my dad walks in on us?"

"You built a lock."

It was true. Doon had installed a lock on his door. He was the only person in Sparks that had one.

"Lina…." Doon groaned, looking uncomfortable. Lina's eyes widened, becoming the most adorable puppy dog pout Doon had ever seen. He could feel his will breaking.

"_Fine_. But no one can see. This is dumb." He got up, noticing the happy look on Lina's face, and locked the bedroom door. Lina jumped up and stood in front of him.

"Ready?"

Doon shrugged. Lina stood before him, smiling. For a moment, Doon was hit by a strange feeling. He wasn't doing this absurd thing to make Lina happy and satisfy her curiosity. He actually _wanted_ to kiss her.

Doon leaned in.

"Doon? Why is the door locked?"

Doon stopped two inches from Lina's face. His father called again, rattling the doorknob.

"Doon? Is something wrong?"

"No!" Doon called back to him, "Just showing Lina my new discovery!"

"Oh, hello, Lina!" Mr. Harrow called, "The water power? Good, good…. Doon, can you unlock the door?"

"Okay…" Doon said, backing away from Lina. Lina frowned as he opened the door for his father.

"Lina, how is Mrs. Murdo?" Mr. Harrow asked.

"Probably needing my help," Lina said, smiling. She turned to Doon, "We can talk about this later."

On her way out she heard snippets of conversation from the father and son.

"- can't lock the door – young, beautiful girl-"

"- just a friend – nothing happened –"

"- you're a proper young, man, Doon. I know – teenage hormones –"

"- _Dad!_ Can we not talk about –"

"-trust you, Doon. Just a precaution – how parents can be-"

Lina was out the door, though she wondered _exactly_ what they were talking about. She figured she probably didn't want to know, though, when she heard Mr. Harrow say "- haven't had 'the talk' yet and I –".

Lina didn't see Doon again for three days. She finally spotted him in a store, looking at vegetables. She cornered him.

"When I said we'd 'talk about it later', I meant soon. Not three days later."

"Fine," Doon said, laughing, "We can do it now."

Lina waited patiently.

"Not here!" Doon grabbed Lina's arm and steered her out of the store, "Somewhere privet, you nutcase! It's weird and stupid, and there is no way _I'm_ going to get caught doing it!"

Lina rolled her eyes at his embarrassment.

"So where are we going?" Lina asked, "Your house?"

"No. Dad's home and he doesn't want me locking my bedroom door with you over."

"…Why?" Lina asked, perplexed.

"Something about teenage hormones…. I don't know. He's been all freaked out ever since I turned thirteen."

"Oh… then where are we going? The Doctor's?"

"The Doctor's? _Your_ place? You don't have locks at your place! And you live with _five other people_. I don't think so."

"Then _where_?"

"The library," Doon said, sighing, "Not many people go there. Edward's there, but he's so busy arranging books to notice us."

And so they ran to the library. They slipped in without Edward noticing and ran to once of the back rooms – it wouldn't be sorted out for a long time, meaning privacy.

"Alright," Doon said, "The coast is clear, I guess…."

"So let's kiss!" Lina insisted. She was excited. She was about to find out what a kiss was!

But then Lina saw a problem. Doon had grown a full four inches taller than her. Was she supposed to stand on her tiptoes?

Doon saw the same problem. Was he supposed to go down to her?

They pondered this for five minutes until Doon finally said "How about you get on your tiptoes a little and I go to you a little, and we'll meet in the middle?" Lina agreed, but then they saw another problem.

Won't we bump noses?

This problem took them twenty minutes to figure out.

"Maybe we're supposed to tilt our heads…." Lina said, tilting her head to the left.

"Like this?" Doon asked, mirroring her (tilting to the right), "How does that fix anything?"

"No… you tilt to the left, too. Not the right."

Doon did so. "Oh. Yeah, I see now…."

For another good twenty minutes they just looked at each other, becoming lost in each other's eyes. Doon gently touched her cheek.

A shockwave ran through Lina when his lips touched hers. Her heart fluttered in her chest as a warm feeling took over her body. She shuttered with enjoyment. Her arms snaked around his neck of their own accord. She pulled him closer, and he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her little waist. Lina could feel his heart pound against her own. His tongue caressed her bottom lip, making Lina gasp. His tongue glided into her mouth, polishing her teeth. Lina pressed her lips closer to his, if that was ever possible. She felt such a rush….

The sound of rustling papers, a loud thud and a tiny "oh, my…" brought them back to reality. They pulled away from each other so fast Lina tripped over a pile of books and Doon staggered though he ran into nothing.

Edward stood there, a pile of books (obviously dropped) at his feet. The old man stared at the two of them, thunderstruck. Doon's face turned bright red; this was the one thing he didn't want – to get caught.

"Well, now you know!" he told Lina, rushing out the door, looking mortified.

"Doon!" Edward shouted after him, but Doon was gone. Edward turned back to Lina, looking stunned.

"Do you know what you just did?"

Lina shrugged, "I found this word in the dictionary… 'Kiss'. It meant 'to touch lips', so I wanted to know why someone would want to do that, so…." Now the entire thing seemed foolish.

Edward smiled at her and helped her to her feet. "Don't worry, Lina. You shouldn't do _everything_ you read in the dictionary," he laughed, "but kissing is just fine."

"You know about it?" Lina yelped.

"I'm the librarian. I happen to read these books, you know."

Lina turned scarlet. All she had to do was read a few books?

Edward looked at her curiously, "Do you know what kissing is supposed to signify?"

Lina's eyebrows furrowed, "No…. The dictionary didn't say…."

"Yes. Very straightforward, the dictionary is," Edward winked. He looked at the pile of books around them and picked up five. One's, _Mary's Married_, cover was dark blue with two hands on the cover making a 'pinky promise', a gold ring on each of their ring fingers. Another's, _Hate and Herald_, cover was red with a boy and a girl on it, looking mad at each other. The third, _Beats like a Drum_, was another red book with a white heart in the middle. The fourth, _My Princess_, green with a princess in a field. And the fifth, _My Neighbor Rodger_, was gold with a boy leaning against a motorcycle. Edward put these into Lina's hands.

"Read these, Lina," he said, "I think you'll understand."

Lina didn't know that night when she opened _Hate and Harold_ that her life would change by morning.

Lina wasn't a big reader except for the dictionary, but her curiosity kept her going. She had almost finished _Hate and Harold_ by ten o'clock.

_Amy glared at Harold. "Why did you do that?!" she yelled at him, "I could have taken him myself! I could have fought all on my own! But no! You had to be a hotshot and protect the 'damsel in distress' and showoff! I can take care of myself! So thanks! For making me look like a total idiot in from of the whole school!" _

"_I didn't do it to make you look bad!" Harold yelled at her. _

"_No! You did it to make your self look good!" _

"_No! I did it because I didn't want you to get hurt! Because I FREAKING LOVE YOU!" _

_Harold's lips crashed into Amy's, knocking the wind out of her. She felt herself melt into his arms and –_

Lina's eyebrows furrowed. _Mary's Married_ was similar:

_Mary's husband kissed her. "You know I love you, right?" _

"_Of course…." Mary muttered, but her thoughts were not on Jason's kiss, but on Tony's. Tony's was different from Jason's. Jason says 'I love you'. But Mary never felt it in his kiss. Tony never said 'I love you'. But she did feel it in his kiss. Mary – _

Lina put down the book. She moved on to _Beats like a Drum_.

_The ceremonial drum pounded rhythmically. Kimiko stood, waiting to hear Kyo's answer. _

"_What?" Kyo asked, "I don't think I heard right. The drum…." _

"_I said I love you!" Kimiko shouted over the drum. _

"_What? I still don't think I heard right. Did you say you lo-"but Kimiko was tiered of shouting. She grabbed him by the shirt and pressed her lips against his in a deep kiss. _

Lina frowned. She grabbed _My Princess_.

"_How can I tell Princess Lucy about my feelings?" I asked the witch._

_The witch raised an eyebrow, "How do you think?" _

"_I love you is said too often by too many people. It's not enough!" _

_The witch sighed, "Well, young man… kiss her." _

Lina slammed the book shut. She didn't need to read anymore. She'd read enough. She'd read too much. It was late, now two in the morning, and she was tiered. But she couldn't sleep. She afraid that kisses would fill her dreams. She was afraid "I love you" would invade her dreams. She was afraid she would dream of her very best friend in the world, Doon Harrow….

The next morning, Lina spent the breakfast in a daze. She was thinking about her and Doon's kiss.

_It doesn't mean anything_, she though to herself, _Maybe it's supposed to mean 'I love you', but we didn't know that! All the books described the kiss being… like that. _The memory of the electric current that Doon's lips had brought her surged back into her mind. She shook the thought off. _It probably feels like that no matter who you kiss. It means nothing. _

Mrs. Murdo, Maddy and the Doctor all looked worried, watching Lina pick at her food. Poppy and Torren weren't really paying attention.

"Everything alright, Lina?" Mrs. Murdo asked.

"Do you have a head ache?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm fine…." Lina mumbled. Really, she felt a little sick, but she knew nothing the Doctor had could cure it.

Lina lay around the house all day, looking rather miserable. The Doctor was making a house call with Mrs. Murdo and Maddy when Lina was curled up on the couch and Torren decided her mood was annoying him.

"That's the matter?" he asked, sounding bored.

"Mmm…" was all Lina said. Torren rolled his eyes.

"What are you thinking about so hard that it's making you ill?" he snapped. Lina looked up at him.

"K-kiss…." She choked out.

Torren raised an eyebrow, "You're still on about that?" Torren rolled his eyes, and before Lina knew it his lips were pressed against hers.

She didn't push him away. She would have, but she was confused. It didn't feel like it had when Doon had kissed her. It was _just_ two lips touching. Torren's kiss meant nothing.

Doon's hadn't.

Torren pulled away, still looking bored. It hadn't meant anything to him, either.

"Curiosity satisfied?" he asked, "Stop moping."

But it hadn't 'satisfied her curiosity'. It told her something he didn't want to know.

In that moment, Lina Mayfleet realized that she was in love with Doon Harrow.

Lina didn't see Doon for several days. She was trying to figure out what to do. She thought she should at least tell him what a kiss was supposed to mean….

But she didn't want to. She was afraid.

Finally, Doon found Lina by the river.

"Hey, Lina!" Lina's face turned bright red.

"H-hey…"

"I haven't seen you in a week! What have you been up to?" Doon sat down on the rock next to her. Lina took a breath; she'd been practicing.

"Doon…." She mumbled. Doon leaned in closer to hear. Lina's face turned a deeper shade of scarlet.

"What is it, Lina? Is something wrong?"

"No…."

"Hmm?"

"Doon?"

"Yeah?"

"I found out what a kiss is supposed to mean…."

"Really?" Doon looked far more interested in the mysterious word now that they'd actually kissed. He didn't look amused at the idea anymore. He wanted information. Lina turned away from him.

"Y-you probably don't want to know…." She muttered, knowing perfectly well what his answer would be.

"Of course I want to know! What is it?" She knew it.

"Well…" she turned back to look at Doon, "It means…" She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his expression, "It means 'I love you'."

She didn't hear a gasp. She didn't hear a yelp of surprise. She didn't even hear an "oh… ew…." In fact, his response was nothing like what she'd expected.

"…Really?"

"…yeah…" Lina didn't open her eyes. She was afraid.

"Well…."

There was a moment of silence. The kind of silence like someone was contemplating. And then, something odd happened.

Doon kissed her again.


End file.
